Cutting The Strings
by Rethira
Summary: They were both puppets for years. But now it is time to cut their strings..... SephyCloud lemon. ONESHOT.


Okay, this is a sort of weird drabbly thing inspired by my desktop wallpaper. Ever seen that picture of Sephy leaning over Cloud and licking at a Masamune inflicted wound? I have no idea who drew and painted it, but whoever they are, thank you. Your art is beautiful. It can be seen on AarinFantasy somewhere, just so you know. I love that picture.

Anyway, this is a lemon, and it is a ONESHOT. For now anyway. And if you're waiting for some more of The Changes I Would Make, I hope this makes it up ti you, as the wait is probably gonna be a long one.

Dedication: to Amarissia. You made me like SephZackCloud threesomes and invented the name Sephy-pants, possibly the best Sephy nickname ever.

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, although I wish I did. If I did, it'd be remade with super improved graphics and on all the consoles. Because it's not fair to deprive people of Sephy-pants and Cloud.

Warning: lemon, general weirdness, weird immortality thing, Jenova mentioned during lemon. No Hojo, thank god. Oh yeah, Valenwind if you squint real hard.

XXX

**Cutting The Strings**

Cloud shuddered slightly as the thin blade slid into his shoulder. He wondered how many times he was going to be stabbed by Masamune in the shoulder. It stung like a bitch. But now was not the time. He had Sephiroth to fight and had Masamune in his shoulder. A black gloved hand gripped the long katana and slipped it out of his own shoulder. Blood immediately welled out of the wound and Cloud slid to the ground. He needed to get back up...needed to fight...needed to protect Gaia...but it was so hard. And why should he? He'd sacrificed everything for the planet: Zack, Aeris, Tifa was gone as was Barrett, Yuffie, Reeve...only Cid, Vincent and Nanaki were left. And then that last punishing blow...giving up his humanity. Cloud was forever trapped in the body of a 17 year old boy. Never would he age, never would he die, forever would he fight against the Calamity from the Sky.

He was no better than Sephiroth.

So Cloud allowed his body – _how old was it now? Sixty? Seventy? _– to fall to the ground before his enemy. He may not be human, he may be a WEAPON, but he was still able to think for himself and his decision now was to surrender. When had he last seen Vincent? Cid, the wonderful pilot who had bonded with Vincent and his demons? Nanaki, the long lived flame lion? When had he last laid down and slept? When had he been able to walk freely down a packed street not chased by Jenova's puppets?

Lying there, tired and broken, Cloud thought back to Kadaj and Sephiroth's insistence that he was their puppet. _Not theirs. Gaia's. She manipulates us all, even Jenova. She cannot survive without Jenova, they are too closely intertwined. So Sephiroth, you remain Jenova's unwilling puppet while I am Gaia's puppet. Well today I say no more. If Gaia wants me to fight, she will have to break me completely. And she won't do that. I am too valuable. Too perfect. Your opposite, Sephiroth. Your equal._

And Sephiroth awoke. Tired of fighting, tired of his mother, tired of Gaia, tired of it all, he watched uninterested as Cloud fell to the ground. An old, long forgotten voice – _Zack?_ – murmured that he should pick Cloud up and clean his wound. The ex-General dug Masamune into the ground and carefully turned Cloud over, settling on the ground supporting Cloud on his lap. He noticed that his enemy was asleep and wondered why, before remembering that he might need sleep sometimes. The voice whispered insistently to him that he should clean the wound.

So he lowered his head and began to lick the wound clean. He silently wondered at the blood that still flowed through Cloud's veins. Mako seemed to taint everything, yet his blood was still the deep red colour it should be and still tasted of iron. The wound began to close slowly and Cloud began to awake.

"We're puppets, Sephiroth."

"We are not allowed to be anything more."

"Would you cut your strings, Sephiroth?"

"If I could."

"You do not care for your mother?"

"She is not my mother."

"When did you decide that?"

"Some time ago. I don't know when."

"So why do we dance for them?"

"Because we have to."

"Why do we have to?"

"We just do."

"Let's do something different."

"Why?"

"To break the strings."

"Very well."

Sephiroth did not know what prompted him to kiss the WEAPON. He just did. And he felt mother's anger but it was veiled, muted, as though it was from far away. He felt Gaia protest too, her anger rolling through Cloud into him. They continued to kiss for as long as possible until air became a necessity even to those who do not require it.

Cloud licked his lips, pleased with the flutters of life he could feel in his belly. Had the attraction to Sephiroth not faded? Was the crush still there? Cloud didn't know.

Sephiroth's lips pressed against his neck and then there was teeth and tongue marking the column of flesh, driving him insane. Cloud didn't know how, but his clothes left his body and then the lips were suckling a nipple and fingers were exploring his body carefully. He wrapped his fingers in the long silver hair and allowed soft moans to slip free from his lips. Gaia railed against her bindings, screaming at him, but Cloud ignored her and let his hands explore Sephiroth's body above his.

Sephiroth removed his bulky armour and leather before resuming his exploration. Cloud was uninhibited and responsive and Sephiroth remembered the old days when he was propositioned for this by everyone under the sun. But now there wasn't anything left like that, just deserted buildings where he and Cloud fought pointless fights, never winning, never losing, never finding purpose in this misery.

Hard flesh that both men had almost forgotten about rubbed against each other, frissons of life sizzling along their nerve endings. Their lips met again while Sephiroth moved his hand to the virgin tight unused entrance to Cloud's body. He rubbed it gently before moving his fingers up to Cloud's mouth, asking him to suckle them.

Cloud did so, quite well and Sephiroth briefly wondered how much life he would feel if that wet mouth was wrapped around an aching piece of his flesh. Would it feel more perfect than just his fingers? Or would the life feeling be the strongest when he was enveloped by Cloud's willing body?

Cloud lapped at the long fingers until they retreated to his untried entrance. The stretching pain was negligible compared to the other pains he'd felt in his long lifetime. Rather, it felt nice, full, right. Then the fingers touched something Cloud felt sure he'd never known about and everything was right in Gaia and Cloud was alive again. He cried out in joy and pressed insistently against the fingers, and they obligingly stroked that life giving place inside him again and again until Cloud couldn't remember anything but the life he now felt and craved.

Sephiroth watched the fascinating display and wondered what was causing it. Cloud was moaning loudly and pushing against him, spurring him on, and Sephiroth wasn't a man who backed down from such pleas. He pressed his fingers ever deeper until he could go no deeper and then he began to stretch the tight hole until he felt it was loose enough. He rubbed their hard flesh together causing more moans of delight from the smaller man. And then he repositioned himself to press inside.

Cloud complained when the delicious fingers left him but then there was a smooth thickness that could only be Sephiroth's erection and the world seemed to spin. Pain and pleasure mixed into one entity, one delightful, life giving entity and perfection was surrounding him. Everything was slick and hot and hard and perfect, drowning Gaia's voice out.

Sephiroth was amazed by the tight heat he was buried in. Perfect pleasure surrounding him, gripping him, holding him. He pressed harder and groaned as he found a pace that felt like heaven come to life. The lithe body beneath him just completed the perfection and helped to drive Jenova's voice from his mind.

The two puppets moved against each other for what could have been minutes or hours, neither knew anything save the pleasure they were gaining, the life they were giving and receiving from each other. They kissed sloppily, hungrily and a hand each wrapped around Cloud's untended arousal.

With a groan, Cloud and Sephiroth fell into the oblivion granted by their releases, clinging to each other for an anchor to the world. Their breath evened out and settled into sleep patterns.

For the first time in almost fifty years Sephiroth and Cloud fell asleep at the same time and, much to the fury of their respective puppeteers, they did it wrapped around each other.

When next they awoke, they had cut their strings.

XXX

Yes, I am a sucker for happy endings.

_Rethira_


End file.
